Musical instrument



April 26, 1949. EL N 2,468,374

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed Feb. 1'7, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 )a. XL??? April 26, 1949. w, w, N LSON 2,468,374

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filled Feb. 17, 1947 s shets sheet 2 April 26, 1949.

w. w. NELSON MUSICAL INSTRUMENT 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 FiledFeb. 1'7, 1947 Patented Apr. 26, 1949 MUSIQAL INSTRUMENT William W. Nelson, Belmont, Mass, assignor to Vega Company, Boston, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application February 17, 1947, Serial No. 729,164

5 Claims.

My invention relates to musical instruments, particularly to stringed instruments such as guitars, banjos, etc.

Dance orchestras commonly employ a guitar as part of the rhythm section, since the instrument can be played to produce staccato chords which serve as an admirable foundation upon which the melodic structure may be erected. While the chords are, of course, harmonically re lated to the melody, the peculiar percussive effect of a guitar so played is highly desirable in the playing of dance music because it augments the drums in providing the strong and inflexible rhythmic beat essential to such music.

However, the guitar is also valuable as a solo instrument, and most orchestra leaders require the guitar player to take occasional soles in addition to the regular playin of rhythmic chords. A guitar solo is usually carried out by producing the notes upon one string at a time, or single string playing, as opposed to the playing oi chords upon a number of strings. One of the most characteristic features of a guitar solo is the lingering, slow decay of the notes, and one note will not have died away before the next one is played, thus producing a smooth, blended progression of sounds quite the opposite of the staccato effect desired when the instrument is functioning as part of the rhythm section. Inasmuch as the volume of sound produced by a guitar compares uniavoraloly with that produced. by many other instruments of the orchestra, it is common practice to play guitar solos through an electric pick-up and amplifier so that the solo will be loud enough to dominate the other instruments in the orchestra engaged in playing the accompaniment.

The pick-up is actuated by the movement of the metal strings through the field of a perms. nent magnet with associated coils from whicthe signal voltages thus developed are applied to the input of an audio amplifier. In the absence of the amplifier the sounds produced by the guitar depend upon the vibration of the strings above a sounding board forming the top of the guitar and serving as a mechanical amplifier for the string sounds. A guitar with no electrical attachments is commonly referred to as an acoustic guitar; a guitar played through an amplifier is commonly referred to as an electrio guitar. It has been found that an electric guitar of the sort commonly employed cannot be utilized efficiently as an acoustic guitar because the sounding board is damped by the sup-- ports required for the pick-up as well as by the 2 cable leading from the pick-up to the amplifier. Consequently guitar players have found it necessary to supply themselves with two guitars, an acoustic guitar for rhythm playing and an electric guitar for solo work.

The most important object of my invention is to provide a guitar which. can be utilized with equal eliectiveness as an acoustic guitar as well as an electric guitar and to eliminate the necessity for a guitar player to provide himself with two guitars of different types.

The most important feature of my invention resides in the combination of a piclnup mount? ed on a support secured to a nodal point of the guitar and a control panel, including the elements required for adjustment of tone and volume, mounted upon a support anchored to a second nodal point of the guitar and connected to the pick-up by a cable running through the hollow body of the guitar but spaced from all vibrating portions of the body of the guitar.

The most important advantage flowing from the use of my novel construction is the fact that the player may disconnect the guitar from the amplifier and use it as an acoustic guitar or,

with equal facility, connect it to an amplifier and employ the guitar as an electric guitar for solo work.

While I refer in this application specifically to guitars, those skilled in the art of manufacturing musical instruments will readily appreciate the fact that m novel construction may be employed with any type of stringed instrument such as a banjo, mandolin, or cello.

These and other objects and features of my invention will be more readily understood and appreciated from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof select ed for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. i is a view perspective of a guitar cone structed in accordance with my invention,

Fig. 2 is a plan View of the bottom of the guitar,

Fig. 3 is a view in cross section along the line 33 of Fig. 2,

Fig. i is a View in cross section through the upper part of the guitar body, and

Fig. 5 is a plan View of the upper part of the guitar body.

As shown in the drawing, the guitar proper is largely of conventional construction, including a body If having the shape characteristic of the instrument and comprising a vertical wall l2 of relatively thin wood bent to. shape and secured along its bottom edge to a wooden back I4 and along its upper edge to a thin wooden front or sounding board :6. A thick wooden neck end block [8 is glued to the wall 2?. and to the back and sounding board at the upper of the body to serve as a structural reinforcing member anchoring the parts firmly together. At the lower end of the body there is provided a Wooden end block 2% also glued to the wall the back l4 and the sounding board it. The members l2, l4 and I6 enclose a space forming a resonating cavity, and a pair of F holes or sound holes 22 of conventional shape are cut into the sounding board 55. To the upp r of the body it? there is secured an elongated wooden neck 25 having a heel 2G glued to wall l2; the neck forms a support for a conventional flat finger board 28 which projects at its lower end beyond the neck over the board 56. At its upper end the finger board and neck terminate in a conventional peg head 30 in which are mounted six pegs on which strings 43 are wound. The finger board is provided with conventional frets and extends beneath the strings 4D.

Fastened to the lower end of the body l t is metal tail piece 34 in the form of a skeleton fr me carrying a flanged head 36 across its end. The head 36 is provided with a series of slots in which the strings 40 are anchored and the lower end of the tail piece 34 merges into a solid piece bent over to form an attaching flange through which pass a number of wood screws 35 which function to secure the tail piece to the wall [2 and to the end block 29. A bridge d2 of conventional form is mounted on the sounding board l5 midway between the "5 holes 22 and serves as a mechanical link to transmit the vibrations of the strings 4 3 to the sounding board 55.

A fiat finger or pick guard 44 of plastic or metal is mounted on the body to adjacent the finger board 28. In the lower end of the finger board there is a straight longitudinal bore for the reception of a tube 42. secured at its outer end to a conventional magnetic pick-up 46 including a pair of coils and associated core members (not shown). The tube 48 fits tightly within the bore in the finger board 28 and provides a firm mount for the pick-up 65. The bore in the finger board 28 intersects an inclined bore 49 passing through the neck end block IS, the sounding board ll: and the 1 base of the neck 24. A cable 58 is connected to the pick-up 4B and passes through the tube 48 and the bore 49 into the interior of the body iii. The cable 50 may conveniently comprise an inner insulated wire 5i surrounded by a flexible metal shield which serves as the ground connection. The neck end block 18 and the lower portion of the neck 24 are clamped to the body Iii and prevent vibration of that portion of the body which therefore is a nodal point. It will be observed that the finger board extension and the pick-up 4B are thus anchored to a nodal point in the body of the guitar. Similarly the tail piece is secured to the end block 26 which suppresses vibration at that portion of the guitar and therefore forms a second nodal point. It is important to note that the tail piece and associated elements are thus also anchored to a nodal point.

The cable 50 is stretched across the interior of the body h! from the neck end block 18 to the end block 28 where it passes through a bore and through a groove formed in the lower flange of the tail piece 34. The cable 50 does not touch the body l0 except at the blocks l8 and 29 which, as above pointed out, are nodal points. Mounted on the frame of the tail piece 34 is a bracket supporting a potentiometer 52 having a control knob 5 carrying an arrow which moves across the face of an escutcheon plate conveniently marked to i". .cate relative levels of volume. Also secured to the bracket on the tail piece is a second potentiometer 58 controlled by a knob 60 working across a second escutcheon plate 62 displaying designations appropriate to a tone control circuit. Mounted with the potentiometer 58, but not shown in the drawing, is a condenser coupled to the potentiometer to form a conventional tone control circuit. The cable 5%] is appropriately connected to the volume and tone control potentiometers 52 and 58, and the latter are connected to a conventional plug or connector 64 to which an amplifier input cable may be screwed.

It will be noted that the pick-up, cable, tone and volume controls and connector are all anchored in members secured to the guitar body if) at nodal points. There is no damping effect since the sounding board and other vibrating surfaces are nowhere in contact with the elements used to associate the guitar with an amplifier. Consequently when the amplifier input cable is disconnected from the connector 64, the guitar may conveniently be used as an acoustic guitar for playing staccato rhythmic chords. On the other hand, when the amplifier is connected to the guitar and the volume control turned up, the instrument functions perfectly as an electric guitar and is thus capable of use as a solo instrument. All electric guitars heretofore used have involved pick-up supporting structure and brackets for the tone and volume controls so mounted as to impair the functioning of the in strument as an acoustic guitar. For example one common form of instrument involves a structure of rods and braces by means of which a pickup is supported from the sounding board. The resuit is that the sounding board is damped and the tone of the instrument is dull and lifeless when the amplifier is shut off.

The details or the pick-up have not been ilustrated because I contemplate using magnetic pick-ups of conventional form. The construction of my invention is not limited to any particular form of pick-up so long as it may be mounted at the end of the finger board where it is acoustically insulated from the sounding board and in position to be affected by the oscillatory movement of the strings. It should be pointed out that a pick-up which is not insulated from the sounding board may serve, unpleasantly and unexpectedly as a microphone feeding all sorts of unwanted signals to an amplifier. My construction eliminates that possibility.

While it is the guitar which is now most commonly used in conjunction with an audio ampiifier, it should be understood that the construction shown herein may easily be adapted for use with other stringed instruments and my invention is not limited to the specific form herein described but is rather to be measured by reference to the appended claims.

Having thus disclosed my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A stringed instrument which comprises a hollow body, a sounding board forming one surface of the body, a string stretched above the sounding board, a tail piece secured to one end of the body for anchoring one end of said string, a neck secured to the other end of said body, a finger board supported on said neck and projected over a portion of the sounding board beneath the string and spaced therefrom, a pickup secured to said finger board at a nodal point of the instrument and in position to lie between the string and the sounding board and spaced from both, and a lead wire running from the pickup through the finger board, into a second nodal point of the body and emerging from the body adjacent the tail piece.

2. A stringed instrument comprising a hollow body, a tail piece secured to one end of the body, a finger board secured to the opposite end of the body, means for stretching a string from said tail piece above said body and over said finger board, a pick-up mounted at a nodal point of the instrument on the end of the finger board and spaced from the body, lead wires running from the pick-up through the finger board, into a second nodal point of the body and to the tail piece; and a volume control mounted on the tail piece connected to said wires.

3. A stringed instrument comprising a body, a tail piece secured to the body, a finger board secured to the body, a pick-up mounted on the inner end of the finger board at a nodal point of the instrument, elements mounted on the tail piece and forming control circuits for volume and tone, and lead wires running from the pick-up through the finger board, through the body, and connected to the elements in the tail piece, said wires and control elements being secured to the body only at nodal points thereof.

4. A stringed instrument comprising a hollow resonant body, a tail piece anchored to the body at a nodal point thereof, a finger board secured to said body at a second nodal point thereof and having a portion extending across and above a portion of the body, a pick-up mounted on the end of the finger board above the body, a volume control element mounted on the tail piece, and a wire running from the pick-up through the finger board and entering the hollow body at a nodal point and connected to the element in the tail piece, the wire being spaced from all but nodal points in said body.

5. A musical instrument comprising a resonant hollow body, a tail piece secured to one end of the body at a nodal point thereof, a finger board secured to the body opposite the tail piece and at a second nodal point, a tube mounted in a bore in said finger board, a pick-up secured to said tube, a wire running from the pick-up through the tube, through the body and to the tail piece, the wire being spaced from the body except at the aforesaid nodal points thereof.

WILLIAM W. NELSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,078,350 Stimson Apr. 2'7, 193'! 2,111,334 Russell Mar. 15, 1938 2,204,150 Quattrociocche June 11, 1940 2,223,190 Smith Nov. 26, 1940 2,236,946 Knopp Apr. 1, 1941 

